Manu S. Pillai

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Manu S. Pillai
Manu Pillai.jpg
Pillai in 2020
Born1990 (age 3334)
Mavelikkara, Kerala, India
Occupation Writer, historian
Language English
Alma mater Fergusson College
King's College London
Genre Popular history
Website
manuspillai.com

Manu S. Pillai (born 1990) is an Indian writer and popular historian. [1] He is known for his works covering the history of India from late medieval through colonial times, with his debut book, The Ivory Throne , focusing on the Travancore monarchy.

Contents

Early life

Manu S. Pillai was born in Mavelikkara, Kerala in 1990, and grew up in Pune. [2] He received a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Fergusson College and a Master's Degree in International Relations from King's College London. [3]

Career

Following his education, he worked with the Parliamentary office of Shashi Tharoor in New Delhi and Lord Karan Bilimoria in London. [4] He also worked as a researcher on the BBC Radio 4 series, Incarnations with Sunil Khilnani, which tells the story of India through fifty great lives. In 2017, he became a full time historian and writer. [2] [3] He holds a PhD in history from King's College London. [5]

Pillai's debut book The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore , about Rani Sethu Lakshmi Bhay's reign as the regent of Travancore, earned him the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2017. [6] [7] [8] As of 2019, the story was expected to be adapted into a web series by Arka Mediaworks. [9]

Rebel Sultans, Pillai's second work, narrates the story of the late medieval Deccan over four centuries. [3] The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin is a collection published in 2019 consisting of historical anecdotes originally published as columns in various Indian newspapers. [10]

Pillai's 2021 book False Allies concerns the rulers of princely states during the British Raj, focusing on five states whose rulers patronized and were painted by Raja Ravi Varma. [1] In Gods, Guns and Missionaries, first released in India in 2024, Pillai outlines the history of Hinduism during India's colonization by Christian European states. [11]

List of works

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References

  1. 1 2 Balakrishnan, Paran (28 October 2021). "Manu Pillai, the wonderkid among Indian historical writers". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 29 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 Cris (21 January 2016). "Travancore surprises". Deccan Chronicle . Archived from the original on 21 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Mallya, Vinutha (7 March 2019). "No easy answers". Pune Mirror. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019.
  4. "Manu S Pillai and Dr Shashi Tharoor". Mid-Day . 5 January 2020. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021.
  5. Pillai, Manu S. (1 February 2023). Rajahs, Ranis, Deity, and Company: Hindu Kingship in Travancore, c. 1750-1950 (PhD thesis). King's College London. OCLC   1372429233 . Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  6. "Manu S Pillai, Paro Anand among winners of Sahitya Akademi awards 2017". Hindustan Times . 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017.
  7. Sripathi, Apoorva (19 February 2016). "Manu Pillai's The Ivory Throne looks at the Travancore royal family" . The Hindu . Archived from the original on 12 September 2017.
  8. Thomas, Anjali (25 January 2020). "Kerala Literature Festival: historians warn against the selective reading of the past" . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020.
  9. Cris (20 March 2019). "'The Ivory Throne' is massive, had to be a web series: Producer Shobu Yarlagadda". The News Minute . Archived from the original on 22 June 2024.
  10. Sahasrabudhe, Aishwarya (25 June 2019). "Manu S Pillai's latest book features episodes from India's history and the lives of its prolific figures". Firstpost . Archived from the original on 17 February 2020.
  11. Vijaya Kumar, P. (27 November 2024). "A limited but brilliant chronicle of Hindu identity formation" . Frontline . Archived from the original on 29 November 2024.